c++ winapi - gui library questions

[zaryk]

What exactly is a gui library? I mean, lets take gtk+, for example, is it a wrapper for functions already available or are they functions made from scratch? Does it access the hardware directly, in order, to create a gui?

Hopefully, by me understanding how a gui library is created, I will be able to make my programs look better.

[Russco]

In general a GUI library provides a common interface for programmers that in its implementation kicks down to OS-specific routines such as win32 API on windows. These libraries almost never access hardware directly. Generally thats a no-no on multitasking operating systems.

This allows programmers to write code that will work on all operating systems covered by the library basically.

[zaryk]

cool thanks.